The Greater Lansing CROP Hunger Walk marked its 50th year Sunday, Oct. 11, with a 5K and a community food and school-supply drive. More than $20,000 had been raised toward a $75,000 goal by Sunday evening, WILX reported. Church World Service representative Larry Conover told the station that the walk has raised more than $3 million over its half-century.
The walk began at Grace United Methodist Church, 1900 Boston Boulevard in Lansing. The Greater Lansing United Nations Association’s PeaceQuest schedule listed registration at 1 p.m., a 1:45 p.m. kickoff and the 5K beginning at 2. The event was free, donations were accepted, and receipts were available. Organizers welcomed walkers, runners and “rockers,” with chairs at the church. The listing also invited people to pre-register or make a secure online donation.
Church World Service says the first walk may have been held in Bismarck, North Dakota, on Oct. 17, 1969, when 1,000 people raised $25,000 to fight hunger. The first event officially called a CROP Walk for the Hungry took place in York County, Pennsylvania, in 1970; CWS says the York County walk has continued since, “as far as we know.”
The name reaches further back than the walks. CROP began in 1947 as the Christian Rural Overseas Program, created to help Midwestern farm families share grain with hungry neighbors in postwar Europe and Asia, CWS says. The acronym remains as a historical name; today, local congregations and groups organize community-wide walks with CWS to raise funds for hunger relief.
The Lansing event listing puts a local number on that model: 25% of funds raised stays in the community for four local hunger-relief agencies. Beyond that share, CWS describes its broader work as grassroots food and water aid along with resources meant to help communities meet needs they identify, including seeds, tools, wells, water systems, technical training and micro-enterprise loans.
The Lansing event is part of a nationwide network. Church World Service says more than 2,000 U.S. communities join over 1,300 CROP walks each year. More than five million people have participated in over 36,000 walks in the last two decades alone, the organization says. The Greater Lansing anniversary joined that continuing work while keeping a local share for hunger-relief agencies in the area.
University Lutheran Church and Campus Ministry’s 2017 newsletter records an earlier Lansing milestone: the local walk raised $62,000 in 2016, its 40th year. The church’s 17 walkers contributed $1,927. The newsletter said the proceeds supported CWS and seven greater Lansing-area agencies, providing food and other assistance to people locally and around the world.
The half-century milestone also belongs to people who kept returning. Mary Trebilcock told WILX she had taken part for 45 years, beginning when her daughter’s church youth group joined. Trebilcock remembered walking 10 miles at the time. She continued after that first family outing, describing the event as a habit and a way to raise money for people facing hardships such as needing food and water. The event listing advertised a 5K, shorter than the 10 miles Trebilcock recalled.
The local share connects the event to food assistance close to home. Evan Lewis, executive director of South Lansing Ministries Food Pantry, told WILX that his organization benefits from CROP Walk funds. He said families across the city, state and country are struggling to put food on the table, and that the pantry is glad to partner with the walk.
The event added a practical supply drive alongside fundraising. WILX reported that volunteers packed backpacks, notebooks and canned goods for distribution by organizations in the area. The items paired the walk’s hunger-relief mission with school supplies, giving participants another way to contribute during the same afternoon.
Conover told WILX that sustaining a local event for 50 years is unusual. This year’s gathering brought together the 5K, a fundraising goal, support for nearby hunger-relief agencies and a supply drive. From the youth-led walk in Bismarck to a Lansing tradition that has reached its 50th year, participants continue to turn shared steps into support for neighbors near and far.
Reader responses